ds of these tribes were from the first
generally, if not universally, heavenly and spiritual beings. Zeus was
the immortal king of heaven, in opposition to everything visible and
temporal. This affords us a permanent background of universal ideas,
behind all special conceptions or local appellations. We recognize as
present in the beginnings of Greek history the highest mental
aspirations belonging to man. We can thus avoid the mistaken doubts
concerning this religion, which came from the influence of the
subsequent manifestations, going back to the deep root from which they
have sprung. The Divine Spirit has always been manifested in the
feelings even of the most uncultivated peoples. Afterwards, in trying
to bring this feeling into distinct consciousness, the various childish
conceptions and imperfect views of religious things arise."

Sec. 5. The Gods of the Artists.

The artists, following the poets, developed still further the divinely
human character of the gods. The architects of the temples gave, in their
pure and harmonious forms, the conception of religious beauty and majesty.
Standing in some open elevated position, their snowy surface bathed in
sunshine, they stood in serene strength, the types of a bright and joyful
religion. A superstitious worship seeks caves and darkness; the noble
majesty of the Greek temples said plainly that they belonged to a religion
of light and peace.

The sculptor worked originally in company with the architect. The statues
were meant to adorn the temples, the temples were made as frames and
pedestals for the statues. The marble forms stood and walked on the
pediments and gave life to the frieze. They animated the exterior, or sat,
calm and strong, in the central shrine.

The poets, in giving a moral and human character to the gods, never quite
forgot their origin as powers of nature. Jupiter Olympus is still the god
of the sky, the thunderer. Neptune is the ruler of the ocean, the
earth-shaker. Phoebus-Apollo is the sun-god. Artemis is the moonlight,
pure, chaste, and cold. But the sculptors finally leave behind these
reminiscences, and in their hands the deities become purely moral beings.
On the brow of Jupiter sits a majestic calm; he is no angry wielder of the
thunderbolt, but the gracious and powerful ruler of the three worlds. This
conception grew up gradually, until it was fully realized by Phidias in
his statues at Olympia and